1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to weapons and particularly to a safety apparatus and method for safe handling and holstering of striker-fired firearms.
2. Description of the Related Art
Striker-fired firearms, such as the Glock™ or Smith and Wesson MP™ series, are well known in the art. The structural and functional design of the firing mechanism of various striker-fired weapons may vary. However, all striker-fired weapons typically include a trigger, a trigger bar that is operatively connected to the trigger, and a spring loaded striker.
The firing mechanism of a Glock™ pistol has a spring-loaded striker that is cocked in two stages that the striker spring powers. When the pistol is charged, the striker is pre-loaded in the half-cock position. As the trigger is pulled, the striker is then fully drawn to the rear and cocked. At the end of its travel, the trigger bar is tilted downward by the connector, releasing the striker to fire the cartridge. The connector resets the trigger bar so that the striker will be captured in half-cock at the end of the firing cycle. Cycling of the slide achieves this connector reset action.
Striker-fired firearms have been widely adopted by law enforcement, military and civilians, as a sidearm. They are preferred for their simplicity of design, maintenance, manual of arms, and excellent reliability. While existing striker-fired firearms have multiple internal safeties to prevent accidental discharge (AD) while being handled or dropped, most designs only require a deliberate pull of the trigger to fire the weapon. A majority of users prefer the simplicity of this manual of arms. The weapon is ready to fire at all times as long as a bullet is in the chamber.
There are also manual safety options currently on market, which the user may engage but they have not been widely adopted. This is likely because these manual safeties are switched in distinct on or off positions, leaving the possibility that the safety could be left on safe mode by accident, and thus, user is unaware that the weapon is not ready to use. This may be deadly in certain circumstances. Thus, users prefer the weapon always being ready to fire compared to the option of having a manual safety. It is believed that this is preferred particularly in high stress combat situations when a manual safety set on “safe” might be forgotten and the weapon would not fire when needed most.
While it seems that most users prefer an always ready-to-fire weapon, there are drawbacks associated with such a weapon. The major drawback of striker-fired firearms without manual safeties is that it is not uncommon to have an accidental discharge while handling the weapon, holstering it, or removing it from the holster. For example, upon inserting the striker fired firearm in a holster, it is not uncommon for users to forget to remove their finger from the trigger area, and by the holster pushing the finger into the trigger, causing the firing of the weapon. Worse yet, objects such as clothing, debris, or parts of a well-worn holster may get stuck in the trigger areas as the user pushes the firearm into the holster, pulling the trigger and firing the weapon without the user having any warning. This is commonly called “Glock Leg” as the user might shoot herself in the leg. An Internet search will provide ample examples of such accidents. In other cases, users have had an accidental discharge while removing their striker-fired firearm from their holster simply by riding the trigger as the weapon is removed and firing too soon. Certain holster retaining safety apparatus, seem to lend themselves to this kind of accidental discharge.
Some prior art safety apparatus acts on the striker. It is believed that any safety apparatus that acts on striker lends itself to serious safety issues of firing slightly out of battery under certain conditions. Out of battery discharges are well known to destroy these weapons and harm users. A simple Internet search of “Glock Kaboom” will show many examples. Such safety apparatus may block the movement of the striker only while user is applying compensatory force through her thumb, which has to be enough, such that to prevent movement of the trigger. One problem with such safety apparatus is that accidental discharge may still occur if the force applied to the trigger, by an object or by user's finger, outweighs the force applied to the striker.
Thus, there is a need for a new and improved safety apparatus for striker-fired weapons that solves the problems identified above.
The problems and the associated solutions presented in this section could be or could have been pursued, but they are not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches presented in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their presence in this section of the application.